Confessions of a Citroholic

[CitroJim]

Gosh Richard, your cars really keep you on your toes!!!

[RichardW]

Tag team at the moment! Now 80k/ 8 years & 105k / 11.5 years old so some work is expected.

Both will need front brakes in the not so distant future as well....

[CitroJim]

Yes, I forget the age of those cars now. To me they're still very new....

Just heard from the owner of the C4 Space Cadet I did the urea injector on a few months ago that the cambelt went at 72K. Teeth stripped rather than an actual snap. Curious as to what happened to cause that - he plans to do the work himself and hopes its just broken rockers and camshaft...

[RichardW]

That's the usual failure on these - belt was thinned out to 19mm (25 on earlier) engines and it appears marginal over the long term. Hence planning to get ours done...but we are beyond 72k!

Most get away with cam and rockers, but sometimes drop a valve. Saw a vid on a van with the same failure the other day, where the cam was tight in the cam box, so new cam box needed, but head stayed on.

[xantia_v6]

Should also check that anything driven from the camshafts (vacuum pump, fuel pump) has not seized.

[CitroJim]

Thanks both Makes me think I may well do mine early - in any case it'll be due on an age basis sooner than on a mileage basis based on current use...

Should also check that anything driven from the camshafts (vacuum pump, fuel pump) has not seized.

Good thinking Mike, I'll pass that on

[RichardW]

Fun with bearings.... The shell of this one is resolutely refusing to be wrested from its 13 year home

Tension on the puller, heat it up (admittedly only a butane torch), whack it with a sledge hammer....not even a hint of movement. Hmmmm. Left it to 'soak' overnight with the tension on. I think some porous welding required in the morning (run out of gas )

Surprisingly the ABS sensor came out without too much trouble, and I've got the ball joint out - was tight, had to get the big pipe out!

Had to deploy the reverse flute sockets on the brake caliper bolt, been reduced to something in-between sizes. Hopefully I've got something that will fit.

[CitroJim]

Gosh Yes, they can get very at home over the years Richard... I once recall doing this job on an XM. Made my hydraulic press really struggle and the gauge went past the end-stop and bent the needle before the bearings finally let go with a big bang...

Let's hope the bearings decide to cooperate after a good overnight soak

[RichardW]

MIG for the win and the bearing is out. I've pulled the new bearing in, but then tried to fit the new bottom ball joint - to find that in either removing the old one, or the bashing, the thread is damaged and the new one won't start The old one came out a bit hard, and the thread on it looks pretty 'flat' so that's probably the cause - I've ordered a repair file to see if I can recover it; otherwise I guess it's a new hub; it appears to be M38 which is not really an off the shelf size of thread / tap!

[CitroJim]

Oh gosh Richard Two steps forward and one step back Good to know the MIG worked though...

[RichardW]

I change the ball joints if I have the hub off, as they've usually got play in them, and they're cheap and easy to change when the hub is already in the vice. In this case, no play was evident, and it's not proving easy, and not really cheap (already £30 for the thread file, could be a new hub and another wheel bearing at worst case )

[RichardW]

Thread file for the win

Only took about 30 mins, it's still a bit stiff, but screwed home, just got to torque it up.

[mickthemaverick]

That is one of those anomaly type tools, great to have in the tool box but hope you don't have to use it!!

[RichardW]

I probably didn't know it existed before, but saw a video by Cutting Edge Engineering the other week where he fixed a damaged internal thread with one. Pains me, but Amazon delivered one the next day.... I also bought a set of 4 large circlip pliers to put the bearing circlip in, only needed the one pair, but didn't seem to be a way of buying just one! Not sure I will have any other use for them, but it sure made it easier to put the clip in, rather than fighting with screwdrivers and the like.

[bobins]

I probably didn't know it existed before, but saw a video by Cutting Edge Engineering the other week where he fixed a damaged internal thread with one.

There's always something reassuring about watching Kurtis from CEE doing his work. It just seems to be a case of : "Yep, we can do that" and off he goes, lathing, welding, and machining away on some hulking great lump of steel.